SharePoint Server 2007 takes advantage of the .Net 3 platform, and can be used to build and manage workflows with the Windows Workflow Foundation. Workflows can be used to link documents and people together, and can even be used with the Forms Server.

Basic search

There's a junior member of the SharePoint Server family. A basic search version adds enterprise search to 2007 Office system, and two versions of SharePoint Server for Search are available, each with different index size limits. You can treat this as the missing piece of the Vista indexing tools, indexing your network alongside your PCs.

Microsoft Project 2007 isn't everyone's cup of tea, but project managers will find its new features useful. What-if scenario planning helps develop contingency plans, while 'change highlights' show just what effects each change has on the whole project plan.

A new version of Project Server will help work with larger projects, and a new product, Project Portfolio Server, is designed to handle many large projects at once, with tools to calculate resource and financial plans.

The new version of Office is a sea change for Microsoft - an innovative interface for end-users and plenty of advantages for business. Outlook 2007 is streets ahead of any previous version for organising information and managing your time.

Access 2007 is finally accessible to the average user. Excel makes existing features far easier to find and use and adds powerful new tools for visualising information. Word and PowerPoint have fewer brand new tools, but the ribbon interface makes them shine again.

The advantages go beyond the core apps. Despite imperfections, OneNote has grown up to be a powerful and flexible information organiser that makes working on multiple PCs or collaborating with other users a snap. Home users do well here as the Home & Student Edition has multiple licences for OneNote too.

Groove emerges from its transition to Microsoft without the bonsai features trimming that cut Visio down to size; you still get powerful and straightforward collaboration and file synchronisation. SharePoint Designer may look like FrontPage but it's better behaved and understands the new generation of web design standards, even if it is from a Microsoft perspective. Excel and form publishing are what larger businesses have been demanding for years.

Pick a version without the also-rans to get the best value, although even with eight versions Microsoft doesn't make that easy. InfoPath is an excellent, flexible application for enterprise forms design, which only a fraction of users need. Publisher and Visio are competent rather than exciting.

Communicator will need Live Communication Server to work and doesn't ship for months. With all that, Office finally starts to feel more like a suite than a boxful of separate applications, and it's a suite offering a productive new way of working you can't find anywhere else.